Game apparatus



(No Model.) J B. BROOKS.

GAME APPARATUS.

Patented Noir. 3,1896.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

JOHN E. BROOKS, OF CALUMET, PENNSYLVANIA.

GAME APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 570,743, dated November 3, 1896. Application filed January 17, 1896. serial no. 575,917. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN E. BROOKS, of Calu met, county of Westmoreland, State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Game and Game Apparatus, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

The object of myinvention is to produce an improved game and game apparatus, the name which I have appropriated to the game being wickets.

My invention consists in a game played upon a field divided into squares or houses, certain of the houses being provided with wickets.

In playing the game a ball or bowl is projected across the field, the object being to cause it to lodge in a selected house of the field, the houses counting according to the proportionate difiiculty in making them, and the houses which are provided with wickets making the highest counts, in order that the plays which require the greatest skill may be made the most attractive.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure I is a plan View of my field. Fig. II is an edgewise view thereof, showing the wickets in side elevation.

Referring to the reference-characters on the drawings, A indicates each one of sixteen pegs, which are set in a square field at intervals to divide the field into nine houses, numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, respectively. The field may be plotted upon a board or table, or it may be staked upon grounds, as desired. The size of the field and of its subdivision may be varied to suit the character of the game and whether it is played indoors or out of doors. Each of the houses 7, S, and 9 is provided with a wicket B, all of the wickets being in alinement one with the other. The wickets preferably consist of pegs C, which are secured in the field at such a distance apart as to support a swinging piece D, which carries a pendant or tongue E.

F indicates the alley, which may be either a smooth level track or a defined channel. Its length varies in proportion to the area of the field employed and extends from the first wicket in the house 7 back a distance of fifty or one hundred feet for an out-of-door game;

or it may be only a few feet or inches for an indoor apparatus. If the alley F is defined by sides, as in an indoor apparatus, side alleys G and H, opening into it at different points, may be provided.

The game is designed to be played by balls or bowls of suitable size, character, and dimensions. They maybe pitched, bowled, or batted toward the field, or they may be otherwise projected across it, the means employed being different in thedifierent variations to which the apparatus is susceptible.

The game is preferably played with three three-ball sets, or nine balls in all, three balls being allowed to each player. This number, however, may be increased or diminished, if desired.

The counts of the game are as follows: House 1 counts one, 2 counts two, and 3 counts three. All three counts, however, may be made successively by one ball. For example, if the ball passes through houses 1 and 2 and lodges in 3 the count will be six, the counts of houses 1, 2, and 3 being added together. If, however, the balls pass through any of the houses not in straight succession from the alley and lodges in one of the side houses, the count made is only that of the house in which the ball lodges. Houses 4, 5, and 6 count, respectively, two, four, and six, or twelve if three successive houses are made by one ball. The houses 7, 8, and 9 count in like manner seven, nine, and seventeen, respectively, as the other houses, except when the wickets are made. The wicket in house 7 counts ten, in house 8 counts fifteen, and in house 9 counts twenty-five, which is in each instance to be added to the count of the house itself. Therefore if a ball passes through the wicket in house 7 and lodges in 7 the count is seventeen for that ball. If the wicket in house 8 is made in succession, the count is the wicket in house 7, which is seventeen plus the wicket and house 8, which is twenty-four, making a total of forty-one. If

the three wickets and houses are made in succession, the count is the wicket and house 7, which is seventeen, the wicket and house 8, which is twenty-four, and the wicketand house 9, which is forty-two, making the highest possible count to be made by one ball eighty-three and the highest possible count to be made by the three balls of one player two hundred and forty-nine.

The count is taken after the game is played. Consequently the plays of those following the first player may be to drive the balls of the previous player or players from the houses in which they are lodged. A ball crossing a house otherwise than in straight succession from the alley counts only the number of the house in which the ball lodges.

lVhat I claim is 1. A game apparatus consisting of a square board constituting a field, of pegs located at each corner of the field, two pegs upon each side of the field and dividing such side into three equal divisions and four pegs located within the field in such manner as to divide the field in conjunction with the other pegs into nine squares, a main alley leading to the center of one side of the field, and branch alleys springing from the main alley and three wickets located in alinenient with the alley and located upon the side of the squares of the middle tier nearest the alley, and pendants swinging from the wickets, substantially as specified. I

2. The combination with a square board constituting a field, of pegs secured to the board-and dividing the field into three rows of houses, wickets located in each of the houses of the middle row, a main alley leading to an end house of the middle row, and branch alleys springing from the main alley and leading to the end houses of each of the side row, substantially as specified.

In testimony of all which I have hereunto subscribed my name. v

JOHN E. BROOKS; Witnesses W. M. McCALIsTER, O. E. 'ZE'EK. 

